The presidential fundraising field showed some deep seated personality differences during February, according to the Campaign Finance Institute’s analysis
of the reports that were filed with the Federal election Commission on March 20.

President Obama continued to raise more money than his opponents, with a substantial percentage from small donors, but his small donor percentage
went down for the month and his cash on hand was substantially lower than the last incumbent at the same time during the reelection campaign
(Tables 1 and 3).

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney raised more and had more cash on hand than his Republican rivals
(Table 1). The bulk of his money continued to come from donors who
“maxed out” (Tables 3 and
5) – more so than any candidate in recent years whose campaign remained active at this stage.
Romney’s advantage was also furthered by his large-donor-based Super PAC, Restore Our Future
(Table 6).

After some good primary results, Rick Santorum had his best fundraising month of the cycle, raising nearly three-quarter as much as Romney
(Table 1). Santorum, Ron Paul, and Newt Gingrich also continue to raise
significant amounts from small donors (Table 3). Santorum had only about one-fifth as much net cash on hand as Romney, Paul had slightly less, and Gingrich
finished the month in debt.

Super PACs associated with the four active Republican candidates raised $72 million through February
(Table 6). This was about half as much as the candidates raised.
Half of these Super PACs’ money came from 17 contributors who gave $1 million or more. In addition, Priorities USA – the PAC supporting President Obama –
raised 62% of its $6.4 million from three donors who gave at least $1 million each
(Table 7).

Obama

President Obama’s campaign committee raised $21.6 million for his primary election campaign in February, for a total of $151.4 million for the cycle so far.
While his monthly and cumulative total outpaced his Republican rivals, and improved upon the $12 million he raised in January, it fell short of the $56 million
he raised in February 2008 (Table 2).

President Obama continues to raise significant amounts from small donors, defined in CFI’s federal analyses as donors who give a candidate an aggregate
amount of $200 or less. However, with unitemized ($200 or less) contributions amounting to 41% of his fundraising total for the month, the
campaign’s cumulative small donor total dipped a few percentage points, from 47% through January to 45% through February.

At the end of February, the Obama campaign had $67.7 million in cash on hand. This put him far ahead of his GOP rivals, who are spending
whatever they can to win their party’s nomination. It is substantially less than the $110 million President George W. Bush had in hand at the same time in 2004.

Republicans

Mitt Romney’s $12 million in receipts during February put him at $74.7 million for the cycle. This is ahead of his 2008 fundraising pace,
when he had raised $63.3 million in contributions through February and lent $42.3 of his own money to the campaign. This year, Romney has not self-financed.
However, the $43.2 raised by Restore Our Future, the Super PAC supporting Romney’s election, has made up the difference.

Romney continues to run a campaign fueled by donors who give large contributions. Despite well publicized efforts during February to appeal
to small donors, the former Massachusetts Governor raised almost the same low proportion of his money from small donors (9%) as he had in past months,
as well as the same high proportion from donors who gave the campaign the legal maximum amount of $2,500 (66%).

When CFI noticed
last month
that 40% of Romney’s itemized donors had maxed out, accounting for 66% of his money, this provoked comments that the
campaign would have to find new donors. It is therefore worth noting that the Romney campaign received $2,500 checks from 2,479 presumably new donors
in February. This was three times the number of donors (826) who wrote $2,500 checks to the Obama primary campaign in the same month.

In contrast to the Romney campaign’s dependence on $2,500 donors, small donors accounted for 49% of Santorum’s receipts, 45% of Gingrich’s and 39% of Paul’s.

Santorum had a relatively strong month in February, raising $8.9 million to bring his cumulative total to $15.5 million. His fundraising profile thus
resembles Mike Huckabee’s, the 2008 GOP candidate whose political constituency most closely resembles Santorum’s.

Romney ended February with $7.3 million cash on hand to Santorum’s $1.6 million (subtracting debt) and Paul’s $1.4 million. Gingrich’s report showed
$500,000 more debt than cash.

Super PACs

Super PACs supporting individual presidential candidates raised $88.4 million and spent $71.0 million through February. They reported another
$9.8 million in independent expenditures during the first three weeks of March
(Table 6).

These Super PACs have raised most of their money from a handful of major donors.

Because of the role of these Super PACs, the candidates’ receipts and expenditures do not explain as much as in years past. The role of small and
large donors still speaks to important organizing and mobilizing capabilities, but million-dollar donors have changed the equation for advertising expenses.

The Campaign Finance Institute is a non-partisan, non-profit research institute. Statements of the Campaign Finance Institute and its Task Forces do not necessarily reflect the views of CFI's Trustees or financial supporters.